Open BIM for Citizen Engagement in Sustainable Renovation Projects

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to discuss the development of a digital tool based on an open building information model (BIM) for better citizens’ engagement in sustainable renovation projects of residential buildings. The ambition is linked with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sup-ported by the Norwegian government, municipalities and housing cooperatives’ Federation NBBL-Norske Boligbyggelags Landsforbund (representing of 25% of residential buildings). The housing sector in Norway represents 67% of the building stock, which reinforces the importance of addressing sustainability in this sector. The research aims to open the BIM circle to residents, increasing transparency and building trust in decision-making processes, facilitating easier communication, creating a new cultural identity and opportunities for inter-generational relations, visualizing com-plex technical solutions and ultimately influencing better project outcomes. The methodology used both quantitative and qualitative research methods that were organized through summer-schools and semester courses. In the paper, the analysis of the social/individual barriers to sustainable refurbishment and co-creation of a new interactive tool to achieve citizen engagement, are given. The methods also include the review of the past refurbishment projects, in which we identify successes and failures in the decision-making processes. Those bottom-up approaches are developed to better meet residents’ needs by gathering their feedback, leading to improved communication of the benefits of a high standard refurbishment project. A substantial part of gathering information was to listen and not teach to understand people needs and voices ultimately creating a visual survey. Thereby enabling a gamification of the data collection process. The concept for a citizen engage ment platform integrating BIM is developed and tested for the purposes of modelling the case site, collecting data and communicating with residents. in communicating the benefits of sustainable reno vation is still developing and the rest of this paper will be demonstrating the design process of a web-based interactive tool for improved communication in the renovation project of a Norwegian housing cooperative.